OOAK Table Tennis Forum

But you're dismissing the possibility of a genuine reason why she's not playing... lets wait and see if we can find out.

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Having known Gao Jun for over two years (when she was our club's head coach, and her husband is my long-time friend), I would just say her character is very reserved and she will value harmony over anything. It would be hard to tell whether it's the coach's or her decision not to play at this point, and we perhaps will never find out the truth. She knows that our young girls can really use any WTTC experience, and that pretty much everyone in the U.S. is asking for it.
I have never met a more egoless world-class player than her.

Another parallel: The Japanese team, rated right up there with the Germans, thought they could skate past Poland and the coach didn't use Mizutani and Matsudaira and they got beat.

The selection of players at these team tournaments has a lot of different dynamics, but the bottom line is as a coach you've got to get the W, and if you don't you are held accountable. The Austrian coach correctly judged that Austria could get the W without Schlager. The Japanese coach made an embarrassing blunder.

The U.S. women really needed a W after blowing their first match. Gheorghe selected Judy Hugh instead of Gao Jun and we lost. That decision is questionable and as coach, Gheorghe is accountable for his decision just like the Japanese coach.

Let's see if Mizutani and Matsudaira sit out their next match, as well. I doubt it.

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That's certainly a quality in her I would very much admire.

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And on the same day the US men's soccer team is knocked out of the Olympic qualifier by El Salvador! Last-second goal in the 4th minute of stoppage time.

Video on universalsports.com, just as the table tennis will soon be.

Some poor Swedish kid (Kristian Karlsson) is currently having to face Ma Long. He's a tad out-gunned!

As I'm home from work, recovering from surgery, it's been nice to be able to watch some of the action. Really enjoyed seeing Panagiotis Gionis this morning, even though he lost to a player from Hong Kong. Seeing how he attacked anything into the body really inspires me to try to stop using the "chicken wing" and think more aggressively with my forehand side. Also learned a lot watching him chop, I need to change the angle of my blade when chopping. Great stuff, although I heard in the U.S. anyone who wants to watch is going to have to pay starting tomorrow, through universalsports.com I think.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is."
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Close match right now between Russia and Belarus. Chtchetinine beat Skachkov 3-2.

No video on itTV for this but there might be something on YouTube later.

itTV is really going all out with their commentators today. There's at least 4 in action (from Ireland, Germany, England, China) plus Mikael Andersson.

For the US, the video-on-demand will apparently remain available for free. Only the live stream will cost money (a lot).

Not much he could do about it. The other two matches of that meeting had some nerve to them, though. Watching them didn't feel like time wasted, even if I was pretty sure of the outcome.

When the weakest rated of the chinese is #7 on the world ranking, and the strongest swede is 50-ish, the outcome is more or less given...

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I understand why the U.S. women don't have a win, they are seeded lowest in their group. However, their lineups have been a bit puzzling. It appears as if Gao Jun, clearly the best player by a wide margin on the team, and likely the reason that the team is as highly ranked as it is, has only played 1 of the 3 matches so far. It was a match the U.S. lost 2-3, but both wins were hers. I can't help but think they may have won one of their other matches had she played. I don't understand why they'd hold out someone who's clearly their top player, someone they would rely on for two wins every time. I realize that getting the younger players experience is important, but this is, after all, competition, and the point is to win. Now, their only remaining matches are against teams that will likely beat us, even if Gao Jun plays. It would have been nice to at least get one win as the lowest seed, save the learning time for after we get on the map.

On the men's side, the U.S. team is the top seed in their group in division 3 and have 2 upset losses already. However, it appears as if they can still finish second if they win and Lithuania wins their match. The U.S. could finish 3-2 with a win, and they would win the tie breaker against the other team that could finish 3-2. Looking at some of the match results, it appears as if Michael Landers is holding his own, while the rest have some mixed results.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is."
USATT Rating: 1827
Blade: Donic Defplay Senso, FH: Xiom Omega V Asia Max Red BH: Spinlord Dornenglanz 2 OX Black

The Ecuador player that closed out the USA in the deciding match yesterday was defeated last year by Pushblocker. There's still hope for us ox LP players.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you.
Homer J. Simpson

He should have trialed lol, he may have got thru a few rounds

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That was my biggest wonder about Swedish table Tennis is how they missed the boat by not introducing younger players starting by the late nineties and not getting the nineties players into coaching rolls, which was part of the proven successful pattern of Sweden and Chinese table Tennis over the last 35 years.

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Ha ha ha, they should always have an OX long pips player just for matchup situations like that. I'll offer my services.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is."
USATT Rating: 1827
Blade: Donic Defplay Senso, FH: Xiom Omega V Asia Max Red BH: Spinlord Dornenglanz 2 OX Black

Pushblocker would have won for the USA!